Blog: transition update and grocery haul

Hi folx,

So, as I said yesterday I had an appointment with my gp today for a referral. I made the appointment at 8 am so I had as little time to stress about it as possible. I still had no idea how to bring it up though. But honestly it went fine. I was a nervous wreck, but my gp was way more respectful about it than I expected. Even though he admitted he didn’t know a lot a about it. He did not question me once. He did not misgender me once. He only asked me if I wanted to medically transition and if I had talked to anyone else about it. Then we talked about where I wanted to go for my medical transition and agreed that the local mental health institution probably wasn’t a good idea. So since neither of us really the options we agreed that I would call my insurance to ask what my options are and as soon as I made a decision I’d call back and he’d send the referral straight away.

When I got home I decided I might as well call right away and just get it over with now I’m at it. The employee I got on the phone started misgendering me the moment she heard my voice and kept obsessively calling me madam even though I clearly told her I was trans and we were discussing trans health care. But it was probably just ignorance, because she helped me fine. She didn’t know much about it, so she’d let someone who does call back tomorrow or the day after that. She did quickly mention Utrecht, Groningen en Ghent as options though, so since Ghent is closest I decided to research Belgian trans health care, which seems to be a lot better than the Dutch system. Not that that’s very surprising, because Belgian health care is better in general. So at the moment I’m hoping to go there, specially since things seem to be going a lot faster there as well. The only downside is that someone will probably have to drive me there, but I’m sure that can be managed if it has to. So yeah, for now it’s a question of waiting to hear what my insurance has to say about it. But so far it has been going much faster and much more positive than I expected. This was a huge step for me, partly because I was afraid I would get denied and partly because I would make it feel real. The second part is true, but to be honest it feels good. So I’ll update you as soon as I know more.

But daily life goes on too, so I had to get groceries today. First I went to the grocery shop to get bread and popsicles, because the forecast says it’s going to be hot this weekend. Then I went to the Asian food shop. I’m so glad we have an Asian food shop with a vegetarian owner, it’s so amazing. They still sell animal products (I don’t think the shop would make it very long here if they didn’t to be honest) but they’re so vegan friendly now.

Not only do they sell do they sell fresh tofu, but also frozen meat and fish substitutes, dairy free desserts and this weird but awesome konjaku-based (a weird vegetable with a chewy texture once cooked which I have never had fresh and honestly I don’t know the English name of) product that is also made to resemble seafood (squid I think). The owner is a huge fan of it so it’s always well stocked and it’s not even that expensive. The frozen substitutes and desserts are though, but they still make great treats. That fresh tofu is life though. It so good! And it’s super cheap. I had slowly started to appreciate tofu, but since I have access to this I’m a full-blown tofu lover. It’s the first time I’ve ever had the frozen mochi dessert, so I’m very curious about those.

Also, recently I had kombucha for the first time and it was love at first sight. Well… taste. So I decided to get stuff to make my own, because it’s so much cheaper, which arrived today. So I might post a tutorial once I get the hang of it. If I get the hang of it…

I hope this blog wasn’t too rambly, because to be honest I feel very all over the place. But then again, it was quite a day, so it’s not exactly strange I’m a bit overwhelmed, but I just wanted to share this. For now it’s time for dinner and the gym after that, so I’m going to call it a day. See you next time. Bye!